Busan IT Expo 2005

September 3, Saturday – At around 11pm, we brought Kok Sin to Design Hall for lunch and then departed to BEXCO(Busan Exhibition and Convention Center) by subway. There is an IT Expo there from Sept 1 to Sept 4. There are exhibitions and demonstrations on the new/existing softwares and hardwares. Companies who participated in this exhibition are such as Microsoft, LG, Sony and KT(Korea Telecom). It was the first time I visited such an exhibition.

There was a mini stage outside of BEXCO. There was a performance going on there for promotion purpose. The break dance was nice. There was a mini food fair nearby as there was a food and health exhibition on that day as well. But, we did not attend it as we need to pay extra for its entrance fees. We need to buy the ticket and fill in a form first before obtaining the pass to enter the exhibition hall. The ticket cost 2,000 won each.

As we walked in, we saw a huge Microsoft booth on our right. There were 2 Microsoft girls there and handed us a paper bag with a pen inside as we approached them. Next to it was Sony. There was a bus there displaying some of Sony’s products. But, I am more interested in the latest model of Sony’s mp3 player. It looks a bit like a lighter and comes in 4 colors. Its screen is not colored but it looks really cool. It cost around RM600+ for 256MB. There was a demonstration on Sony’s sound system as well for recording etc. It was really nice; the sound was so clear and real.

In addition, there were some performances (traditional dance and drums) going on at the back of the exhibition hall. The costumes were really beautiful and colorful. The drums performance sounded like the Chinese’s 24 seasons drums, but the shape of the drums are different.

There are exhibitions on some games and animations as well. There were quite a number of companies focusing on 3D Graphics for TV, web and mobile productions, mobile games development, such as HelloNet and Neo-Technology. Some of them were giving out paper bags with freebies to attract more visitors to their booths. We managed to get some goodies, such as paper bag, pen, postcards, writing pad and file. The designs of some of the animations are really attractive. I managed to snap a few photos with huge, fat and white Mashimaro. I never thought that Mashimaro is so cute~ I also took a picture with Puccha, my favorite Korea cartoon character. It would have look nicer if Yushu didn’t suddenly pop up when the photo was taken.

Currently, companies here are focusing on ubiquitous technologies. There are many displays and demonstrations of such products by huge companies such as KT and LG. They are focusing on the U-home concept now. Almost everything in the house can be controlled using a remove control, such as the washing machine, television and curtains. Some of these exhibitions were done in a bus. Of course, it’s just the shape of the bus, with no driver seat and passenger seats inside. The decorations of the booths are quite stunning as well. They sure like to hire pretty girls, dress up in some special suits, to take care of the booths.

Some universities such as DSU also have their own booth there. We managed to see the robotic dog that is always not around in the Ubiquitous Frontier in DSU as they always take it out for exhibitions. It is really amazing. It does act like a real dog. Another university is doing something on face recognition. Using a sort of camera, they will capture the image of our face and did some analysis based on it. With this information, the software will do some fortune telling.

Have you ever seen a gold and silver color keyboard before? You will be able to see one here. I never thought that any company would pay so much focus just on designing keyboards. Some of the keyboards are really thin. I feel that it’s not so nice for typing. I saw a server with its size smaller than a normal PC casing and with higher processing speed. Amazing~

There were many more interesting things, such as the water hotter or cooler. It is quite expensive as well. The hardwares displayed there as such as sensors, chips and door lock systems.

There was a mini game festival there as well. Participants were competing to play Starcraft. Korea guys sure like this game a lot and is crazy about it.

We went to the Art Museum at around 5pm. Due to the expensive admission fee (4,000 won), we gave up on visiting it and went to Homeplus instead. According to Yushu, due to Samsung and Tesco are collaborating, it was named “Homeplus” instead of using “Tesco”. It was the first shopping in Korea for Kok Sin. He bought quite a number of items. Then, we departed back to Naengjeong with subway and had dinner at our all time favorite shop. After that, we took the shuttle bus back to DSU.

p/s: will upload the photos later ;)